Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Stream
Home Construction Podcast,
where we take your project fromconception to completion.
Hosted by Licensed GeneralContractor Alex Kozley, we cover
everything from accessorydwelling units to commercial
construction in the greaterColorado Springs area.
Whether you're dreaming of anew ADU, planning an office
upgrade or tackling a majorrenovation project, we've got
(00:26):
the expertise to guide youthrough it.
Let's get building.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Collaboration,
craftsmanship and community.
These values aren't just ideals.
They're the foundation of everybuild at Stream Home
Construction.
Aren't just ideals they're thefoundation of every build at
Stream Home Construction.
Welcome back everyone.
Skip Monty, co-host, slashproducer, back in the studio
with Licensed General Contractor, Alex Cozley.
Alex, how's it going?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Skip, I'm doing great
.
It's good to see you again.
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Doing great man.
Good to see you too.
Still a great spring day, myfavorite time of the year but
it's great to see you again andglad you're back in the studio,
because one of the things thatyou've talked about in several
podcasts are the values thatyour company has and the basis
for everything that you do.
So, if you don't mind, whydon't you tell us what are the
(01:17):
core values that are critical toyour company's success?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yes, skip.
No, I appreciate the topic anddiving in on it, we're
definitely excited about ourcore values and we don't just
think of them as words to writeon our business cards.
I do want to.
Before I jump into the values,I just want to set the tone and
say you know, we're not perfect,but we are relentlessly
pursuing excellence in ourcompany and you'll see that
these values set some highstandards.
So I just want to let everybodyknow like we're not a hundred%
(01:50):
perfect in these things and Idon't think anybody is but we're
constantly pursuing them as ateam.
So I just want to put thatgroundwork out there before we
dive in.
So, yeah, kind of exciting is.
We just recently updated ourcore values.
Actually was part of gettingconnected with a business coach
who is an entrepreneur and hasgone through this process
himself successfully and reallyjust reevaluating like who are
we, you know what are we doing,you know what's the vision for
our company and you know, inconjunction with that, our core
(02:11):
values.
And we had core values in placebefore, but they were pretty
generic and while they were goodthings like gratitude, humility
, trustworthiness they weren'tquite what we wanted.
So we dug a little bit deeperwith this coach and came up with
some really specific corevalues that we're excited about
and that we'll be rolling out toour team here.
(02:31):
Actually, next Friday we have ameeting set up with the whole
team, with a couple of coaches,and we're going to build some
excitement around these and rollthese out and really make sure
the whole team's bought in andunderstands what we're talking
about.
So, with that said, yeah, letme go over our core values.
So, number one, legacy mindset.
And when we say legacy mindset,what we really mean is we don't
(02:51):
just build for today, we buildfor tomorrow.
Every decision that we makeshapes the future of our company
, the lives we're buildingpersonally and the impact we
leave on our clients andcommunity for years to come.
So we don't want to just showup, make some money, go home, go
to rinse and repeat.
You know, we want to change thecommunity, we want to change
lives.
We want everyone on our team toaccept responsibility for every
(03:14):
decision they make and knowthat making the right decision
is going to change their futurefor the better.
It's going to impact ourclients, the whole team and our
community altogether.
So that's what we're callinglegacy mindset.
Our second new core value wecall owning excellence.
The idea there is.
You know, excellence doesn'tjust happen by accident.
Even just making a good planfor a project and a good
(03:36):
schedule and then starting it,you know you have to constantly
stay on it and work and drive tomake things excellent happen.
We're kind of swimming upstreamin construction management.
So excellence doesn't happen byaccident.
It's something we take fullresponsibility for, from our
communication to ourcraftsmanship.
We take pride in the quality ofwork and we hold ourselves to
(03:58):
the highest standard, even whennobody's watching.
Our third new core value we callradical follow-through.
So this isn't justfollow-through, this is radical
follow-through.
This means that we finish whatwe start and then some Radical
follow-through means we don'twait to be reminded, we don't
cut corners and we don't letdetails slide.
We keep our word all the way tothe finish line.
(04:19):
And lastly, foundationalstewardship means that we treat
every opportunity, which isevery project, every
consultation, every conversation, including this podcast, is
something that we've beenentrusted with, and stewardship
in those situations meansbringing care, integrity and
long-term responsibility toeverything we touch.
So those are our four new corevalues.
(04:41):
You can see definitely someoverlap between them, some
connections to the things we'vebeen talking about.
But again, yeah, we're reallyexcited to be rolling those out
and have updated from some moregeneric ones and really getting
specific and digging in on thatfront.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Love them all, man,
especially owning excellence.
That's strong, you know, andlacking with a lot of,
unfortunately, constructioncompanies.
It's you know that.
And the radical follow through,because a lot of times you know
, when you've got a contractorat your house doing something
and they were supposed to do,they didn't do it and they
disappear.
So that's fantastic anddifferentiates you from the rest
(05:16):
of the crews.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah, we really have.
It's not been in our officialdogma or anything like that or
doctrine, but we've tried to.
We really want to be theantithesis of the stereotypical
contractor and so that kind ofwraps up what you were just
saying and these core values arereally like laying that
groundwork out Absolutely Well.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
How do you
incorporate integrity into your
contracts and clientcommunication?
You mentioned communication.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Yeah.
So you know, in terms ofintegrity, we definitely aren't
trying to take advantage of anyof our clients.
You know we try to be asforthright as we can.
One of the ways that we, youknow, I believe, stand out in
(06:08):
that regard we do, you know,free consultation at the
beginning of our design buildprocess.
And then we'll, after we meetwith the client on their
property and figure out what itis that they're looking to do,
we want to give them a heads upas to what we think the
realistic project costs aregoing to be.
And you know we definitely tryto be, you know, conservative in
our estimates and we don't wantto under promise and over
promise and under deliver ontimelines and on our budgets as
(06:28):
well.
So we try to give people apicture that's realistic.
I do think it's not uncommon tosee, in contracting, contractors
giving low prices that maybearen't even well thought out or
they're intentionally low, totry to lure a client into
signing a contract.
And then come the change ordersand now they said it was 80,000
and they've left and it's160,000.
(06:49):
So we want to try to tell theclient it's going to be 160,000
from the beginning for one,because we don't want to be in a
situation where someone's$80,000 short for paying for
their project or you put them in.
You know it can.
There's just a lot ofcomplications.
Sometimes you can really getinto deep water with a situation
and someone might not be ableto pay for the rest of their
improvements and have a halffinished remodel or something
(07:11):
like that.
Might not be able to pay forthe rest of their improvements
and have a half-finished remodelor something like that.
It can be just a majorinconvenience and something you
know, just something wecompletely want to avoid.
And so we want to just be asforthright about what the
implications are of the process,how that could affect their
day-to-day life, havingconstruction going on on their
site, what that looks like totheir pocketbook and all those
things.
To just be upfront and clearlycommunicate to the client.
(07:33):
And then you know, keep thatsame communication running
through the project as well.
To just be upfront, if a delaycomes up or if there's a
potential change order has beenidentified, to just bring those
to the client's attention asquickly as possible so that you
know, if any deviations from theplan arise, that they're aware
of them as soon as possible.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Very good, well
moving forward.
Eyes that they're aware of themas soon as possible.
Very good, well moving forward.
How do you ensure that thesevalues remain consistent as your
company grows?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Because it sounds
like you guys are really taking
off.
So, yeah, I mean it's a greatquestion and something that
we're working through right now.
It starts out by really rollingthese values out to the team.
As I mentioned, we'll have ameeting company-wide, a
couple-hour meeting, with somecoaches.
We'll build some excitement,get everybody bought in, really
do some exercises to understandthem.
Then, of course, we'll integratethem into our, you know,
(08:21):
employee documentation.
We'll have them posted, youknow, around the office and in
our job site binders.
And then also, you know, aspart of our accountability
system for all our team members,we have scorecards and, you
know, part of their scorecardintegrates these core values.
Essentially, you know, we, likeI said, we're just updating
these and we'll probably updatethe way that that looks like,
(08:42):
but we at least want them to bethinking about them and taking
them seriously and not justthinking of as a word and just
to do at least a reflection.
Every month Did I exhibit thischaracteristic?
You know, what can I do to beimproving in this, just to keep
it at the forefront of theirmind.
So, you know, those are reallythings and, of course, when we
meet as a team, we'll be comingback to those values and team as
(09:03):
a team and one on one meetingsto revisit those and say is what
is how we dealt with thissituation in alignment with
these core values or not?
And gives us a better frameworkto evaluate employees and
decisions across the board as acompany.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Wow.
Well, I tell you, that says alot about a company when you can
adhere to core values whilerising out of the waves of
success which it sounds likeyou're doing, alex.
So congratulations, man.
That's outstanding, especiallyrolling it out to your employees
.
I think that's something that'sprobably.
How many associates do you havethat are employees?
Speaker 3 (09:36):
There's 13 total team
members right now at Stream
Home Construction.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Wow, I think it's
incredible that you're getting
buy-in from your employees first.
That means everything.
I really believe that.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Congratulations, alex
.
Thanks so much, and we lookforward to hearing more from you
in the next episode.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Sounds great.
Look forward to it.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Thanks, have a great
rest of your day All right, you
too, man See ya.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
That's a wrap for
this episode of the Stream Home
Construction Podcast.
Ready to bring your vision tolife?
Snag a free on-siteconsultation by visiting our
website at wwwyourstreamhomecom,or call or text us at
719-644-6777.
(10:23):
Until next time, let's keepbuilding your residential and
commercial dream in the greaterColorado Springs area.